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Annual parish meeting - 14 May 2008

Was the high turnout at the annual meeting of the Parish Council because of the air traffic control changes which are threatening the village with the noisiest skies since the helicopters went over earlier in the day? Or was it the presentation of the responses to the survey for the Parish Plan? Perhaps it was going to be the flood in the road every time we have a shower of rain. It was, in reality, none of these - it was the threatened removal of the phone box and it allowed the democratic process to kick into action for the first time for a while with an exciting public vote.

David Risk (pictured below with Mark Hounsell) dealt with the flooding in The Street at the start of the meeting. We were told of work to be done to clear a drain in The Cottage which should solve the problem – assuming the blockage is there. Let’s hope the engineers are right as water has a tendency to show itself a long way from any blockage.

The biggest crime wave to hit Brandeston in the last year, we were told by Mary Thompson, our police Community Support Officer, comprised the morning and evening flows of 4x4s speeding in The Street to and from the school. That aside, we were a crime-free area - although the parish plan survey suggested that there was some vandalism.

Nick Hayward’s presentation of the responses to the survey showed some interesting facts. The preliminary analysis showed that we use cars to travel and that a lot of us are over 50. It suggested that Mutton Lane is less tidy than any other part of the village and that any new homes should be built elsewhere, preferably London, according to one respondent. In summary, the consensus seemed to be that Brandeston should remain more or less as it is now.

And so to the phone box: BT intends to remove it because it is not used and anyone who needs to use it would have to have a credit card as it no longer takes coins. People thought that the old red phone box would have been more in keeping with the village - but of course it would still not be used.

The days of most phone boxes were numbered when every home installed a phone (which 108 people thought worked really well). Then mobiles came along (which don’t work well in Brandeston) and village phone boxes were all but dead (Brandeston people are generally in good health) and buried (the survey had no questions on the village’s graveyards). It seems that our phone box serves just one useful purpose in the village (charming and a friendly place to live but lacks a house of ill repute) – it allows John King to tell his guests exactly where his house is. The meeting didn’t think that this was a good enough reason to keep the phone box and so the Parish Council (efficient and manage the village well) will not oppose its removal.

Village Hall AGM - 29 November 2007

It was a case of all change at the AGM last Thursday. Steve Williams (right), the treasurer for the last 18 years had decided to take a break and didn’t put himself forward for re-election. Steve had been treasurer of the old hut and had taken care of the financial dealings with the Lottery while the new hall was being built. He leaves the hall committee just after the Lottery Fund have signed off on the hall saying that they are entirely happy with everything and that the hall was being run professionally. A vote of thanks was proposed from the floor for Steve’s hard work spanning three decades.

Just over twenty people attended the meeting and heard that the hall finances were in good shape. There was a theoretical loss because of the amount of money being put aside for depreciation but the outgoing committee, supported by the meeting, was satisfied that  the hall was financially sound. We heard that, on average, about £100 was coming in every week from hire fees.

The meeting was also told that snagging (correcting various building issues) had been completed. Mark Hounsell had been driving this on behalf of the committee and was thanked for his efforts.

There was a grant of about £3000 available for a play area project and the management committee will wait for the results from the Parish Plan questionnaire before deciding on what to spend it.

With Steve not standing, Nick Holland-Brown became the new treasurer, Sue Thurlow the new secretary and Darryl Morgan the new chairman. Sam Tassera had resigned as events co-ordinator but the role will be taken on by the committee until a volunteer steps forward.

The draft minutes of the meeting will be available soon.

Photos MP&D

Parish Council Meeting - 14 November 2007 at 8:00 pm

Did you know that every parishioner is free to attend Parish Council meetings? There are, however, restrictions on when you can speak but the chairman of the Brandeston council usually allows parishioners to do so by adjourning the formal meeting and then reconvening it.

To improve the flow of the meeting, the council has changed its process a little so that comments from visitors can be taken in a ten minutes period of open discussion before the meeting formally starts. Why not attend the next meeting yourself? The agenda for the meeting can be seen by clicking here. The first item of the agenda is the presentation of the runner-up award for the  the Suffolk Village of the Year competition.

The approved minutes are public documents and can be accessed further down this page (click here).

Annual Parish Meeting - 25 April 2007

This year’s annual parish meeting was once more dominated by the old favourites – speeding traffic and flooding in the street. Seventeen villagers were present to hear chairman David Risk explain the new measures introduced by the police to control speeding, and to debate the continuing problem of where rainwater should go each time a garden is paved over or a new curb is installed on the road.

It was accepted that the new kerb outside the village hall has probably played a part in diverting rainwater further down the street, and Don Evans reported that on at least one occasion his garage has been flooded as a result. The following debate was concerned with how serious a problem this is likely to be in the long term and David Risk asked to be kept informed of any further flooding problems on which the parish council had not been briefed.

The Village Plan

16 April 2007

A public, parish meeting took place on 16 April at the village hall to discuss whether we should develop a village plan. Following a presentation from John Bell from Suffolk ACRE, the meeting was opened for general discussion and what a lively event it turned out to be! With 40 villagers in the meeting, there was some criticism of the Council for bringing people out under false pretences as several thought that the village was being threatened by street lighting amongst other things. However, the Council defended itself by pointing at the number of people in the meeting and their interest in the future of the village - which was exactly the purpose of the meeting.

It was clear that most people did not understand what the Council wanted from them which was, essentially, agreement to form a village plan. Some councillors had the same concern and there were comments from villagers about being railroaded into a decision. In the end, one comment from the floor seemed to sum up the objective: it was better to have a plan for the future than not. The two-hour meeting was eventually brought to an end with a vote agreeing to move to the next stage - we will put in place the first steps to creating the plan. Volunteers to form a team were sought and anyone interested should make themselves known to the Parish Council. Formal minutes from the meeting will be available here soon. Click here for more photos.

Notes from the Parish Council

See Parish Council Minutes, 6 December 2006, below

1. The parish council is considering whether to request changing the name of "Low Street" to "Lower Candy" - a much older name used for that location. The council will be seeking the views of all those who would be affected.

2. At the last parish council meeting, PC Burt of Framlingham Station mentioned the increase in car break-ins in rural Suffolk and urged everyone to always ensure that their cars were secured. Also, he mentioned that a Suffolk Police crime prevention officer (PC Steve Barratt, based at Southwold but contactable through a central phone no. 01473 613500) could visit parishioners for a free household security audit.

3. The council has arranged a meeting for all parishioners at the village hall on Monday, 16 April 2007 to discuss the parish's contribution to the forthcoming Local Development Framework. This Framework will be a major influence on future developments in Suffolk, including, of course Brandeston. Therefore it is most important that residents make their views known. Further details will be issued shortly.

4. The council is entering our village in the Suffolk Coastal District Council Village of the Year competition. Judgement in based on a number of factors such as village activities, appearance and tidiness, support for disadvantaged etc. etc.

5. Future meeting dates are 16 April at 8.00 pm (see above) 25 April at 8.00 pm (Annual Parish Meeting)